stop me if you've heard this one before

nicole (bff) and i sat holding hands in the corner. his name was bobo and he was making a rubber chicken talk to us. we laughed a lot because that's what we were known for at that time. we would laugh till our stomach's cramped and we would roll on the floor clunching ourselves wheezing. we wore matching floral dresses and we had small satchels for purses. we clearly had no idea what was fashionable at the time. this was no 5th grade birthday bonanza.

lee, bobo's friend, kept offering us pepsi. pushing the can into our faces repeatedly till i refused with a smile. i whispered in nicole's ear not to take drinks from strangers. she nodded.

this was a party organized by my high school. a poor excuse to go to a rich kid's house to eat food from different countries. international club only looks good on your college application. my crush's band played -- brain freeze -- he played guitar and i remember him smiling at me as we passed in the hall.

lee asked if we wanted to go outside to talk. we shook our heads violently -- of course. we were being asked something by an older boy. he didn't go to my school and i had no idea why he was talking to us. he was in community college and we were just dumb sophomores.

lee was a tall, lanky blonde boy from britain. he tied his shoes the same way i did, and he was a vegetarian. he had blue eyes and liked asian girls. he told me, "you're my dream girl."

lee knew steve. steve sat next to me in science class. he liked punk music and drawing comics. he was nice but he was just a face. a cute boy that i was too shy to talk to.
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"nope, never." and it was true. i had never kissed anyone before. this was no line.

"i can't believe that. no way. i can't believe such a pretty girl has never gotten kissed." lee said, putting his arm around me. nicole stared at me with slanted eyes. what could i do?

we soon realized that everyone was drunk and stumbling around the backyard. lee kept offering his vodka pepsi to us. we kept nodding no. lee let me have his jacket and i placed my hand on his thigh. he told me the constellations while slurring in my ear.

nicole sat behind us, just watching. i felt tingly with his arm around me. could he really like me?

he leaned over and brushed his lips over my cheek. three small kisses to my lips. then it was over.
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lee called me everyday for a month. we would talk to 3am as he drunk himself into a stupor. he'd sing punk rock love songs to me over the phone.

rumors went around my school. "yes, we heard you and lee were introduced." snicker.

then he just stopped calling. nicole called him and he told her that he got a girlfriend. he didn't have time for me anymore.

i think nicole was happy as she heard me cry over the phone. fake sympathies slipped through her lips while tears fell into mine.
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lee is 26 years old now. i still wonder whatever happened to him.
 
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